Improvement in composite vessels



ca We dit tate www Letters Patent No. 85,051, dated December 22, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN C'OMPVO'SITE VESSELS.

The Schedule referred to in these Lettersl Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN BALRD, mechanical engineer, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Composite Ships; and that the following, taken in connection with the drawings, is a full, clear, and eX- act description thereof.-

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a finished vessel, built according to the principles of my invention; Y

Figure 2 is an elevation of the same, partially planked up;

Figure 3 isa longitudinal elevation, 'exhibiting the iron framing, with its chords, the stern and stern-post, andthe solid wooden lling of the floor-timbers;

Figure 4 is a vertical cross-section through a tinished ship, made according to the principles of myinvention;

Figure 5, the same, partially planked up; and Figure 6 Iis avertical cross-section through the `framing only.

Composite ships are those composed of a metallic frame,vto which is secured a wooden planking.

Such ships are now in use, and my invention relates to certain peculiarities of construction, which make such Ships stronger, and also better t them for. being coppered.

My improvements may all be applied in the same vessel, or may be used separatelyr and,.inelaborating my invention, I have kept steadily in view the principles known to mechanical engineers, and governing the constructionol beams and bridges.

In the drawings, -metallic timbers or frames are shownatacta. U

These are secured to eachother by diagonal bracing b b b, and by iron stiingfpieces o c, and chords l d', the whole irmly riveted together, and the precise relative location of the parts being immaterial, although I prefer to locate the striugers inside' and the chords outside of therframes; and also to place the diagonal straps, one half` inside and the other half outside ofthe frames, and to rivet .their ends fast to either the stringersor chords; and I also prefer to make the upper chord elv arched upwards, (see iig. 3,) and so to locate it as part of the framing, that the midship part thereof is above the deck-line o o, and the ends thereof below the deckline, whereby my framing is as deep amidships as the whole depth oi' the vessel, or nearly so, and tapers to the ends, thereby securing, with a given weight of material, the greatest strength, and so disposed as to resist best the strains to which a vessel is exposed. But my method of planking, and other of my improvements, are applicable to iron framing made in' any proper or usual manner.

l prefer to fill in lthese frames solid along the door of the vessel, with timber, -up to the turn ofthe bilge, or thereabouts, as shown by iig. 3 and the dotted lines on the cross-sections.

v Upon this-naming, or any suitable metallic framing,

I then bolt planks, ff, .preferring to incline the upper planking'downwaids from amidshipstoward the stem and-stern, as seen clearly in iig. v2.

x l'Ihis planking, it willbe seen, extends from thekeel up to and beyond the turn of the bilge, and from the;

amidships, some distance down the side'of the vessel.' Ifthe framing be madel with metallic chords, such` as (l cl', this pla-raking should extend downwards, partlyl overthe upper chords, and upwards,- partly over the lower chords, and be secured to the chords. When this planking is secured to themetallic framc ing, there will be an open space all along the ship, from' stern to stern, and I plank up this space with diagonal planking, g g, bolted or riveted to the framing. This planking may be diagonal in one direction only, or may be disposed as shown in iig. 2, which construction I prefer, and its ends may either abut against the longitudinal planking, or be notched into it, as shown in the same figure, the notching being the preferredv construction; and, in case the metallic chords are partly covered by the fore-and-aft planking, as described, then the diagonal planking will cover the rest of the surface of these chords, and be secured to them, the chords lapping all the joints.

stern from amidships, I' secure the abutting ends by bolting them to an iron plate, (see dotted lines in fig.

` the space between vthe two midship-frames, and being riveted to them. This plate' may be attached to any .proper part of the iron framing, and may extend across a frame, but I prefer toill with it the space between two ames.

Itwill now be seen, by consideration ofthe description and drawings, that I have a vessel completely lplanked up, and a bridge-like structure, the wood and iron being intimately united, and the joints, between the diagonal and fore-and-aft planking, strengthened by the chords, and the whole disposed in the best form to resist the strains that vessels areexposed to, either from unequal loading, or from the action of the Waves, such strains causing vessels to change their sheer.

It will be further seen that this structure, by reason ofthe use-of the iron plate on which the diagonals abut, is strongest amidships, and that this strength is l further increased by the arched chords, as before explained.

times, to bolt, on the inside of the frames, and above the deck of the vessel, strong planking, which shall extend amidships, from the deck-beams to the top of aft, Aits top being coincident, or nearly so, withthe top of the iron chords d d', (this timber-chord isshown at h hf, iigs. 4 and 5,) and the upper part of the whole structure is further strengthened, if desired, by iron plates, rivetedupon the deck-beams.

After the lframing and inner planking are complete,

gunwale, or, as I prefer, from the top of the bulwarkfcA When this diagonal planking droops both to stem and .f 2,) this iron plate or plates extending over and filling In order further to strengthen the ship,.I intend, at I the bulwarks, and gradually diminish in depth, fore and the whole vessel is to be planked-over with the `ordinary wooden planking 'nt an., and l prefer to secure the outer planking to the inner planking only, and to secure it with wooden fustenings, such as treenails, the treenail for which I have a patent being a suitable devicefor this purpose but this planking may be fastcned with metal, or may be secured through the inner planking to thc timbers, and l sometimes intend to dispose the inner planking asin ordinary double-4 plankedships, the outerplanking secured to the inner planking only. t

In the d awings, the garboard and adjacent streaks ofplanking are shown single. These may, however, be in two thicknesses, but these streaks are secured to the filling of the oor, without through-bolts, into the metallic or. r-tinilwrs, the)vv will answer aswell single double.

The object in fastening the outer planking to the inner planking only, or of securing the former, by means of treenails, either tothe latter only, o1' through the frames, is to prevent galvanic action between the copper, with which the vessel should be sheathed, and

Y the iron frame, and the safest plan is to use lwooden fastenings, not passing into the ironframing.

I am aware of the fact that donble-planked' ships are not new; neither is it new to build a ship with the planki-ng, or one thickness thereof, ruiming diagonally; but such ships, as far as I know, were what are termed bread-and-butter' ships, without any frames; neither are composite ships new, nor is it new to place chords or arches of timber in ships; but I know of no planking diagonal in two directions, nor oi' an)v diagonal planking secured amidships upon an iron plate, nor of any timberchord lying above deck, and inside of the bul\varks,'nor of any iron chord, making partof the iron frame of a ship, high in the centre and low at the ends, whereby greater strengtlnmay be secured .with a given weight of frame, as a whole, than can he attained with a horizontal chord, or one depressed amidships, which latter is the usual, and, so far as Iknow, the only form of metallic chord used in ship-building.

I claim, as of my own inventionl. A vessel, composed of a double planking, and an iron frame', in which the outside planking is secured to the inner planking only with wooden fastenings, wherebya composite ship may be coppered without serious risk of' galvanic action, the combination of planking and frame being substantially such described.

2. In combination with an'iron frame, a planking,4

partly fore and aft, and partly diagonal, the latter drooping both ways from amidshi'ps, and being secured, amidships, or nearly so, upon an iron plate, the whole construction being substantially such as specified.

3. In combination with an iron frame, having metallic chords secured to the outside thereof, foreandaft planking partly covering the chords, and diagonal planking abutting thereon, and covering the remainder vof the chords, whereby the chords serve as lapping- 

